First Period:
- Adam Fox (1) (Power Play) Assists: Chris Kreider (1), Mika Zibanejad (1)
Second Period:
- Andrew Copp (1) Assists: Jacob Trouba (1), Ryan Strome (1)
- Jake Guentzel (1) Assists: Sidney Crosby (1), Bryan Rust (1)
- Jake Guentzel (2) Assists: Sidney Crosby (2), Bryan Rust (2)
- Chris Kreider (1) (Shorthanded) Assists: Mika Zibanejad (2)
- Bryan Rust (1) (Power Play) Assists: Kris Letang (1), Evgeni Malkin (1)
Third Period:
Overtime:
Double OT:
Triple OT:
- Evgeni Malkin (1) Assists: Kasperi Kapanen (1), John Marino (1)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- This was some game. I’m sure it was a fun game to watch for someone without any emotional investment…
- This game was one of those Greatest Hits from the season games. The Rangers dominated the first period, their game fell apart/the Penguins forced their game to fall apart in the second period, and then the Rangers struggled to sustain offense, create chances and they had to heavily rely on Igor Shesterkin. It reminded me of that Carolina game with a few weeks ago.
- That first period made it seem like the Penguins didn’t deserve to play in the same league as the Rangers. The Rangers were so much faster, so much crisper, and were imposing their will physically. They got the second goal and it seemed like the second period would be more of the same, but then the Penguins started to find the soft spots in the Rangers coverage, the Rangers started turning the puck over and it began to look like the Rangers didn’t deserve to play with the Penguins. Maybe it was another case of the Rangers making mistakes because they thought things would be easy, maybe the Penguins made some adjustments, maybe the adrenaline and excitement wore off, but no matter what, the first period Rangers were nowhere to be found.
- The overtimes were pretty even, but the Rangers couldn’t get one and only had a couple of chances after Casey DeSmith went out and the Pens has to go to their third goalie.
- I think that ultimately the refs and/or NHL situation room missed on calls for both teams. I thought that they should have stuck with the Major penalty call on Lindgren and I think they missed on the Kakko/Chytil goal. Both were close and both were switched upon review. You can break down the footage frame by frame for both and still get disagreements. My first reaction to the Kakko/Chytil goal was that it wasn’t going to count because of the contact, but in watching the replay it sure seemed like it was okay. My guess is that while Kakko was pushed, the push wasn’t a push and more of a lean into Kakko with his head, a collision with the goalie and the goal being taken away.
- The Rangers only had one PP chance. They scored on it, but one is not going to be enough. The Pens don’t take a lot of penalties and the Rangers need to do a lot more to force them into situations where they can get on the PP.
- Igor Shesterkin was incredible, but Casey DeSmith was not a pushover and kept this a one-goal, and briefly a two-goal, deficit early on. Still, when the Penguins came on Shesterkin was more than advertised.
- Artemi Panarin had an up and down game and seemed to be frustrated at times. Mika Zibanejad was solid and K’Andre Miller was probably, other than Shesterkin, their best player tonight. Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil might have been the Rangers most consistent line throughout. They had energy and seemed to create the match up problems their skill makes you hope they could.
- So how demoralizing is this? It’s only game one, but there is a feeling that the Rangers both let this game get away with how much their game dropped after the first period and a feeling that tonight was taken away with the Kakko/Chytil goal that was disallowed. They played well enough at times to show that they can beat the Penguins, but the Penguins aren’t going to just step aside. I don’t expect the Rangers to play 60 minutes like they did in the first period, but they got away from their game after the second goal and never approached that level again. The Rangers will need to shore up a lot of their defense, be smarter with the puck and if they win Game 2 they can go to Pittsburgh with a split. They also need a better answer to Sidney Crosby and his line.
- Game 2 is Thursday.